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“We do that a lot,” Elena says of their volunteering habit. “We’re a pretty close-knit family.”

And if a youth were to want something that costs more than what’s supposed to be spent, McCracken would be happy to kick in a few bucks on the sly.

Like a minister going to church, volunteering is McCracken’s life.

He retired from the Navy in 2006, but he’s very much active duty in serving fellow veterans and his home city of Temecula.

McCracken fell in love with Temecula before he even moved there in 1996. While looking at a prospective home to move into with his family, kids in the neighborhood asked if his two daughters — Rae is the other one — wanted to play.

“I’m like, ‘I think I want to live here,’” he recalled. “It seemed like home. It’s that small-town feel.”

McCracken also volunteers on the local Habitat for Humanity board. Then there is his work with the Ronald Reagan Sports Park.

He served on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and, in 2005, convinced 24 fellow sailors to drive up from San Diego and spruce up the park that’s named after the former president.

McCracken helped out on a Saturday – He apparently doesn’t know what the concept “day off” means – and came across Perry Peters, another longtime local volunteer who runs a fundraising group that supports the park.

“From the day I met him, I have held him in the highest esteem for his service to our country,” Peters said.

There’s that word again, “service.”

McCracken honors his fellow veterans as well with a local nonprofit group he started in 2005 to recognize their service. The group has hosted 12 events to raise money for commendations and other ways to thank veterans. It’s also hosted an essay contest for sixth-graders, who write about why veterans should be honored.

McCracken always makes it a point to personally thank fellow veterans for their service whenever he sees them.

What goes around comes around.

He was at a Veteran’s Day parade in Murrieta about seven years ago and was asked by a group of Girl Scouts if he was one.

“I said yes and was immediately surrounded by them,” he remembered. “They presented me with a handmade card that said, ‘Be courageous.’” They chanted, ‘We love our vets.’”

McCracken, 56, says he was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, by a supportive family, including nine siblings. The large group instilled in him the value of helping others.

“There was always someone to help or receive help from as well,” he said.